Wren Lux was genuinely having a breakdown.
She had made herself so nervous, scared to death, only to find out in the end that she remembered everything!
What was the meaning of this?
After all, Resident Evil 7 was a horror game.
Having played it versus never having played it were two completely different experiences.
In the same location, if I didn’t know where a monster would jump out, and it suddenly did, I would definitely be startled.
But if I already knew, would it still be scary?
Furthermore, Wren Lux had played the original game twice in her past life.
When she created the instance, it was equivalent to playing it again.
She knew everything inside and out.
Under these circumstances, no matter how well the atmosphere was built, it was hard for her emotions to fluctuate—except during the combat phases.
And because of the sudden relief after her initial fright, let alone worrying…
Wren Lux’s confidence was practically overflowing…
This was not a good sign.
‘What the hell…’ Wren Lux rubbed her temples.
Although it was a good thing that her biggest worry hadn’t come to pass…
But.
Why did this happen?
Wren Lux held the steering wheel with one hand, not looking ahead at all.
During this period before the instance officially began, the car was not controlled by the player.
It would automatically take the player to the Baker estate.
After all, if control was given, what if the player ran off?
This wasn’t a system instance; there was no content in other areas, so necessary control measures and invisible walls were required.
The reason the player’s scene in the car remained was mainly to play the backstory recap.
Simply put, the protagonist, Ethan, had a loving wife named Mia, and they used to live a happy life together.
But three years ago, Mia suddenly disappeared.
Then one day, Ethan received an old videotape and an email from his wife Mia, who had been missing for three years and presumed dead.
The message directed him to Louisiana.
Although somewhat suspicious, Ethan’s concern for his wife was unstoppable.
He decided to go to the destination to investigate and find his wife.
Right now.
Ethan was driving to the Baker farm in Dulvey, Louisiana, following the contents of the letter.
Wren Lux didn’t bother watching the backstory recap she already knew by heart.
Instead, she lowered her head and pondered the reason.
The system clearly stated it would strip away her memories, so why weren’t they gone?
Was it a system bug?
Unlikely.
She had never heard of such a thing happening.
Then…
Wren Lux recalled for a moment and realized she couldn’t remember what she had eaten over the past few days.
Many details of her daily life had also vanished.
Simply put, she remembered transmigrating, she remembered wanting to create an instance, and she remembered returning home.
But everything after that was completely blank.
On the other hand, she could recall how she constructed the instance, and her memories of the game from her past life were still intact.
Wren Lux’s expression became a bit strange.
Could it be that because she was a transmigrator with two conflicting sets of memories, the system only stripped away one of them?
…That was actually highly possible!
She could only say that every gift from fate truly follows its own path.
While Wren Lux was letting her imagination run wild, the car suddenly stopped.
She had arrived at the destination.
The familiar game stage was right in front of her.
Wren Lux took a look, suppressed the messy thoughts in her mind, pushed the car door open, and stepped out.
She stretched her body…
but as soon as she did, she felt something was wrong.
She lowered her arms, spun around in place, and then looked down at her chest and palms.
She didn’t know if it was the system’s way of ensuring players didn’t develop cognitive dissonance.
Although Wren Lux couldn’t see her chest when she looked down, and the hands in front of her appeared to be male.
When she stretched, she could clearly feel her female features, and her line of sight hadn’t changed at all.
After all, Ethan, whom she was roleplaying, was significantly taller than her.
In short, she could clearly sense that her body was still her original one, completely unchanged.
To describe the feeling—it was as if she had put on an extremely tight-fitting bodysuit that didn’t restrict her movements at all.
Her body was inside this suit, playing the character named Ethan.
‘How troublesome.’ ‘I originally thought…’ But thinking about it, it made sense.
Although instance players had to roleplay as Ethan, not all players would be male, and everyone’s height and build were different.
It was definitely impossible to forcefully shove a player’s consciousness into a completely unfamiliar body.
Regarding this point, Wren Lux, who was already a victim of such an experience, had a lot to say…
It was truly hard to get used to.
If the difference in physique was too drastic, encountering a combat-focused instance would be a nightmare.
Let alone fighting, just being able to run would be impressive.
Therefore, these types of roleplaying instances could only adopt the bodysuit approach.
It wasn’t really a problem.
It was just a bit of a pity…
‘Forget it.’ ‘I’ll be heading back soon anyway.’ Wren Lux shook her head, gathered her thoughts, and walked straight ahead.
Since she had the relevant memories, many of the difficulties in the instance were no longer difficult.
If possible.
She might as well try to speedrun the instance.
She had heard that after clearing an instance, the system would grade the player based on their performance during the settlement phase.
The higher the rating, the easier it was to get good rewards.
With these thoughts in mind, Wren Lux navigated the path with practiced ease and arrived in front of the main house of the Baker estate.
Then, without even glancing at the locked main house, she turned left and followed another path toward the abandoned guest house.
Wren Lux was literally sprinting!
There were actually scary segments along the way, such as unsettling noises, rotting animal carcasses, an old man suddenly walking past, and a terrifying spectacle made of animal corpses and circular saw blades that looked like some sort of sacrificial ritual.
But she ignored them all, just running straight ahead.
Soon.
She arrived at the abandoned guest house, which was the old house featured in the Resident Evil 7 demo.
At this point, Wren Lux didn’t stop or even hesitate.
She strode forward and pushed the door open to enter.
As soon as she stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind her with a bang.
Pitch blackness filled her vision.
Unhurried, Wren Lux pulled a flashlight from her backpack, turned around, and pushed open another door.
She walked down the hallway, completely uninterested in everything around her.
Of course.
She also turned a blind eye to the disgusting kitchen at the end of the hall.
As for that death tape.
To save time.
Wren Lux skipped watching it and went straight to pull the switch.
Because Wren Lux knew very well that all the aforementioned content was actually building up or hinting to the player that something was wrong with this place, intending to make them feel afraid.
If it were an ordinary player arriving at such a hellhole, they would definitely inspect everything, just in case there were clues.
After all, who knew what was going on in this instance?
And during the process of searching for clues, psychological pressure would constantly be applied to the player.
Eventually, the fear would grow thicker, and they would become increasingly terrified.
But Wren Lux wasn’t buying any of it.
Because she knew all the key items, all the puzzle solutions, and the entire game flow.
So whatever psychological hints, whatever atmospheric build-up…
She ignored them all, solely focused on advancing the progression.
Soon.
The eerie and terrifying Baker estate became quite lively.
The thumping sound of footsteps echoed endlessly inside.
…Someone was sprinting through it!
Speaking of which.
You might not believe it.
In less than ten minutes, Wren Lux had already reached the dungeon, holding a pair of bolt cutters, and met Mia.
It was nothing short of godlike speed!
“Mia, Mia, are you okay?” Of course, dialogue with NPCs couldn’t be skipped, mainly out of fear that skipping it might cause issues when the instance officially launched.
So Wren Lux still interacted with Mia according to Ethan’s reactions in her memory.
Then, she followed Mia all the way out of the dungeon.
At this point.
Wren Lux didn’t dare to be hasty anymore.
Looking at Mia’s figure ahead, she began taking deep breaths to mentally prepare herself.
Because what came next…
wouldn’t be so easy.
The combat phase was approaching.
And in this phase, Ethan suffered miserably.
And there was absolutely no way to cheat…
Wren Lux followed Mia, advancing along the dark and terrifying dungeon until they finally reached the exit Mia had mentioned.
But the exit had long been sealed off; there was no door at all.
Seeing this scene.
Mia suddenly lost control of her emotions, becoming highly agitated.
She yelled that it was gone, that it was missing, and then rambled that since Ethan was here, they would soon be a family, so it was okay…
In short, she was delirious, and everything about her was off.
Wren Lux was still mentally preparing herself, completely ignoring Mia.
It wasn’t until Mia collapsed weakly onto the sofa that she snapped back to reality, turned around, and headed to the adjoining room.
After walking in, she didn’t bother investigating.
Instead, she waited patiently.
Sure enough.
It wasn’t long before Mia’s terrified screams rang out.
By the time Wren Lux walked back out, Mia was gone.
However, Wren Lux knew exactly where she went.
She took another deep breath and continued to push the progression forward, leaving the dungeon and heading upstairs.
At some point.
The sky had turned dark.
It had also started raining outside.
Thunder rumbled.
The noisy sound of rain drifted in from outside.
This made the already eerie abandoned guest house seem even more terrifying.
The horror atmosphere was instantly maxed out.
Suddenly.
A strange noise came from afar, sounding as if something was banging against a door.
Wren Lux walked down the gloomy hallway and stopped in front of the door connecting to the other side of the dungeon.
According to the game flow, opening this door…
…meant Mia was about to attack.